Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error A fictionalized account of the early life of the American president as a young lawyer facing his greatest court case. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC Famous Directors: From Sundance to Prominence From Christopher Nolan to Quentin Tarantino and every Coen brother in between, many of today's most popular directors got their start at the Sundance Film Festival . Here's a list of some of the biggest names to go from Sundance to Hollywood prominence. a list of 46 titles created 28 Dec 2014 a list of 29 titles created 11 months ago a list of 26 titles created 10 months ago a list of 40 titles created 8 months ago a list of 29 titles created 5 months ago Title: Young Mr.

Lincoln (1939) 7.6/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination. See more awards » Photos Newlyweds Gil and Lana Martin try to establish a farm in the Mohawk Valley but are menaced by Indians and Tories as the Revolutinary War begins. Director: John Ford A Western retelling the tale of the Shoot-out at the OK Corral. Director: John Ford Aboard the freighter Glencairn, the lives of the crew are lived out in fear, loneliness, suspicion and cameraderie. The men smuggle drink and women aboard, fight with each other, spy on ... See full summary » Director: John Ford In 1922, an Irish rebel informs on his friend, then feels doom closing in. Director: John Ford The story of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who was imprisoned after innocently treating President Lincoln's assassin in 1865.

Director: John Ford Two young drifters guide a Mormon wagon train to the San Juan Valley and encounter cutthroats, Indians, geography, and moral challenges on the journey. Director: John Ford A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn something about each other in the process. Director: John Ford At Fort Apache, an honorable and veteran war captain finds conflict when his regime is placed under the command of a young, glory hungry lieutenant colonel with no respect for the local Indian tribe. Director: John Ford A dramatized account of the role of the American PT Boats in the defense of the Philippines in World War II. Directors: John Ford, Robert Montgomery Stars: Robert Montgomery, John Wayne, Donna Reed Captain Nathan Brittles, on the eve of retirement, takes out a last patrol to stop an impending massive Indian attack. Encumbered by women who must be evacuated, Brittles finds his mission imperiled. Director: John Ford Hillbilly family life in 1941 rural Georgia. Director: John Ford Anti-Catholic and anti-cleric policies in the Mexican state of Tabasco lead the revolutionary government to persecute the state's last remaining priest.

Directors: John Ford, Emilio Fernández Stars: Henry Fonda, Dolores del Rio, Pedro Armendáriz Edit Storyline Ten years in the life of Abraham Lincoln, before he became known to his nation and the world. He moves from a Kentucky cabin to Springfield, Illinois, to begin his law practice. He defends two men accused of murder in a political brawl, suffers the death of his girlfriend Ann, courts his future wife Mary Todd, and agrees to go into politics. Written by Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu> The story of Abraham Lincoln that has NEVER been told! Genres: 9 June 1939 (USA) See more » Also Known As: El joven Lincoln See more » Filming Locations: Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording) Color: Did You Know? Trivia John Ford and producer Darryl F. Zanuck fought an extended battle over control of the film. Ford even had unused takes of the film destroyed so the studio could not insert them into the movie. One scene that Ford insisted on cutting was a scene where Lincoln met his future assassin, a very young John Wilkes Booth.

See more » Goofs When comparing a farmer's dog to Scrub White, Abe's hand leaves the bench between shots. See more » Quotes (Naxxar, Malta) – See all my reviews This film was not only one of John Ford's own personal favorites but also numbered directors Sergei M. Eisenstein and Bertrand Tavernier among its high-profile admirers. Ironically, I've just caught up with it myself via Criterion's recent 2-Disc Set after missing out on a couple of original language screenings of it on Italian TV many years ago and again a few times on TV while in Hollywood! The film marked Ford's first of nine collaborations with Henry Fonda and is also a quintessential example of Ford's folksy Americana vein. A beautifully made and pictorially quite poetic piece of work, the courtroom sequences (and eventual revelation) in its second half still pack quite a wallop, apart from giving stalwart character actor Donald Meek a memorably meaty role as the prosecuting attorney. Fonda is, of course, perfectly cast as a bashful, inexperienced but rigorous and humanistic lawyer who was destined to become President; Fonda would go on to portray other fictitious politicians on film - most notably in Franklin J.

Schaffner's THE BEST MAN (1964) and Sidney Lumet's FAIL-SAFE (1964) - and it's surprising now to learn that he was reluctant at the time about accepting the role of Lincoln since, in his view, that was "like playing God"! It is interesting to note here that Ford had previously tackled Abraham Lincoln (tangentially) in THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND (1936), a superb but perhaps little-known gem which has, luckily, just been released as a Special Edition DVD by the UK's veritable Criterion stand-in, Eureka's "Masters Of Cinema" label. Besides, I also have two more Abraham Lincoln films in my DVD collection which I've yet to watch and, incidentally, both were directed by D. W. Griffith - THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915) and ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1930) - and, had I not just received a bunch of films I've never watched before just now, I would have gladly given them a spin based on my highly-satisfying viewing experience with YOUNG MR. LINCOLN.

13 of 15 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) Author: Ben Burgraff (cariart) from Las Vegas, Nevada 1939 is universally accepted as the greatest year in Hollywood history, with more classic films released than in any other, and John Ford directed three of the best, "Stagecoach", "Drums Along the Mohawk", and this beautiful homage to frontier days and a young backwoods lawyer destined to eventually save the Union, "Young Mr. Lincoln". With the world plunging into a war that America dreaded, but knew it would be drawn into, Abraham Lincoln was much on people's minds, in 1939, as someone who had faced the same dilemma in his own life, and had triumphed. On Broadway, Robert E. Sherwood's award-winning "Abe Lincoln in Illinois", with Raymond Massey's physically dead-on portrayal, was playing to packed houses (it would be filmed in 1940). Carl Sandburg's continuation of his epic biography, "Abraham Lincoln: The War Years", was published, and quickly became a best seller.

President Roosevelt frequently referred to Lincoln in speeches, and the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, D.C., became the most popular landmark in town (a fact that Frank Capra made good use of, in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"). All this was not lost on Darryl F. Zanuck, at 20th Century Fox; as soon as he read Lamar Trotti's screenplay of Lincoln's early days as a lawyer, he designated it a 'prestige' production, and assigned John Ford to direct, and Henry Fonda, to star. Fonda did NOT want to play Lincoln; he felt he couldn't do justice to the 'Great Emancipator', and feared a bad performance would damage his career. Even a filmed make-up test, in which he was stunned by how much he would resemble Lincoln, wouldn't change his mind. According to Fonda, John Ford, whom he'd never worked with, cussed him out royally, at their first meeting, and explained he wasn't portraying the Lincoln of Legend, but a young "jackanape" country lawyer facing his first murder trial. Humbled, Fonda took the role.

(John Ford offered a different scenario of the events, but the outcome was the same!) Obviously, they found a chemistry together that worked, as nearly all of their pairings would produce 'classics'. Unlike the introverted, melancholia-racked Lincoln of "Abe Lincoln in Illinois", Ford's vision was that of a shy but likable young attorney, who made friends easily, and misses the mother he lost, too young (resulting in a bond with a pioneer mother that becomes a vital part of the story). Injustice riles him, and he speaks 'common sense' to quell violence, interlaced with doses of humor. Both productions play on Lincoln's (undocumented) relationship with Ann Rutledge; in Ford's version, the pair are truly in love, and committed to each other. After her death, Lincoln would frequently visit her grave, to share his life with her 'spirit' (a theme Ford would continue in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"). A murder trial is the centerpiece of the film, and shows the prodigious talents of the star and director.

Fonda deftly portrays Lincoln's inexperience, yet earnest belief in justice tempered with mercy, and Ford emphasizes the gulf between the big-city 'intellectuals' (represented by pompous D.A. Donald Meek, and his slick 'advisor', Stephen Douglas, played by a young Milburn Stone), and the informal, rule-bending country sense of Lincoln. With Ford 'regular' Ward Bond as a key witness, the trial is both unconventional, and riveting. With the film closing as Lincoln strides away into the stormy distance, and his destiny (dissolving into a view of the statue at the Lincoln Memorial), audiences could take comfort in the film's message that if a cause is just, good would ultimately triumph. "Young Mr. Lincoln" is a truly remarkable film, from an amazing year! Was the above review useful to you? Young Mr. Lincoln Remind Me Young Mr. Lincoln Some actors play great characters, and other actors have great characters thrust upon them. That seems to have been the case for Henry Fonda, at least as far as the role of Abraham Lincoln was concerned. It took some rather profane convincing from director John Ford before Fonda finally accepted the title role in Young Mr.

Lincoln (1939). Fifty-eight years later, it's hard to imagine any other actor from the period pulling off this particular performance. Lamar Trotti's screenplay for Young Mr. Lincoln is hardly a model of historical accuracy. The picture, which is set in the early 1830s, features Lincoln - who, at this point in his life, is a country lawyer - defending two young men against murder charges. The case, however, is a work of complete fiction. Many of the pivotal people in Lincoln's life appear in the film, including the future First Lady, Mary Todd (Marjorie Weaver). The narrative plays up Lincoln's gifts as a no-nonsense communicator, both as a public and private man. Ford and Trotti were interested in examining the character traits that would one day make Lincoln a great President, regardless of whether the scenes they used to do it actually occurred in real life. Fonda greatly admired Lincoln, but, even after 20th Century Fox's makeup department turned him into a replica of the President, he couldn't abide by his own voice coming out of such a monumental figure. "To me it was like playing Jesus Christ or God," Fonda later told director Lindsay Anderson.

Everyone involved with the picture loved what they saw in Fonda's screen test, but he turned down the role. Shortly thereafter, he was summoned by Ford to discuss the problem. Although Fonda had never met Ford before, he once hung out on the set of Stagecoach (1939) to watch him direct John Wayne. So he had an idea what he was getting into when he agreed to visit Ford's office. He was, however, a bit taken aback by Ford's outfit, which he later described as looking like it "came from the Salvation Army, too large for him, too raggedy for anybody." Ford was also alternating, as was his habit, between smoking a pipe and chewing on a handkerchief while he talked. There may have been better ways to phrase it but Fonda understood exactly what Ford was after. During the period in which the movie takes place, there was no way for anyone to know that Lincoln would eventually become one of the most important men in America history. "It's a movie about a young lawyer in 1830," Fonda said.

"Anyway, Ford shamed me into it, I agreed, and I did the film." Fonda was endlessly impressed with Ford the director, and would go on to make several other classic films with him. "(Young Mr. Lincoln) was a beautiful script," he would tell Anderson, "but like in My Darling Clementine (1946) there were things (Ford) put in at the moment, just little pieces of business, sometimes little pieces of dialogue that were so right on. I've often been asked if I didn't want to direct. No way. Because I know those things wouldn't occur to me and if I wasn't that good I wouldn't want to be a director." Fonda was lucky he had already read several books about Lincoln before finally caving in. Ford didn't insist on actors doing research when appearing in historical epics- he simply expected it, and would even quiz secondary performers about their characters, just to make sure they were on their toes. Milburn Stone, who played Stephen A. Douglas in Young Mr. Lincoln, said Ford once approached him on the set and asked, "Who held Lincoln's hat when he was inaugurated?" "Stephen A. Douglas," Stone responded.

Ford nodded and walked away, but he came back a few minutes later and said, "Who was the first man President Lincoln sent for when Fort Sumter was fired on?" Stone answered, "Stephen A. Douglas." Ford left Stone alone after that, so the actor had apparently passed the test. At any rate, he's barely in the movie. Producer: Kenneth Macgowan, Darryl F. Zanuck Director: John Ford Acting as Abe: Actors who have played Abraham Lincoln - Photo 1 - Pictures - CBS News Acting as Abe: Actors who have played Abraham Lincoln Next Since Abraham Lincoln's death on April 15, 1865, the story of the 16th President of United States' life. In the latest telling by director Steven Spielberg, Daniel Day Lewis stars as President Abraham Lincoln. The film, to be released on November 16, 2012, charts the presidency as the epic Civil War rages. Read "Team of Rivals," the book that inspired the movie, along with " CBS This Morning " -- be a part of CTM Reads !

Credit: David James/Disney/DreamWorks II Daniel Day Lewis as seen in director Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," to be released on November 16, 2012, as compared to the real Lincoln, seen here in an 1854 image by Anthony Berger at the Mathew Brady Studio. Read "Team of Rivals," the book that inspired the movie, along with " CBS This Morning " -- be a part of CTM Reads ! Credit: David James/Disney/DreamWorks II/National Portrait Gallery This June 12, 2012 photo shows actor Benjamin Walker, who plays the title role in the film "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," as he gets into character before touring the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. The film, about the 16th President of the U.S. who hunts vampires, was released on June 22, 2012. Credit: AP Photo/U.S.

Navy, Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Jonteil Johnson Benjamin Walker, as seen giving the Gettysburg Address in "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter." Credit: Fox Poster art for the film telling the "true" story of our nation's 16th president: "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter." Credit: 20th Century Fox Sam Waterston as Abraham Lincoln and James Gammon as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. The actors appeared on Broadway in a revival of Robert E. Sherwood's "Abe Lincoln in Illinois." Waterston (who also played Lincoln in an acclaimed 1988 TV movie) was nominated for a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for his performance in 1994. Credit: AP Photo Actor Henry Fonda is shown in the role of Abraham Lincoln in this 1939 photo from director John Ford's "Young Mr. Lincoln." Credit: MGM Pictures Lance Henriksen and Donna Murphy in "The Day Lincoln Was Shot," a 1998 made-for-TV movie that aired on TNT. Credit: Turner Network Television A still of Walter Huston in D.W.

Griffith's 1930's film "Abraham Lincoln." The film is considered a definitive version of Lincoln's life. Credit: Kino International A still of Kay Hammond and Walter Huston in D.W. Griffith's 1930 film "Abraham Lincoln." Credit: Kino International Robert V. Barron, as Abraham Lincoln in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. Frank McGlynn as Abraham Lincoln in "The Littlest Rebel," starring Shirley Temple. Credit: Twentieth Century Fox Bill Oberst Jr. as Honest Abe in "Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies." Credit: The Asylum Daniel Day-Lewis is Lincoln: What Other Films Benefit or Needed a Certain Actor? - ComingSoon.net Daniel Day-Lewis is Lincoln: What Other Films Benefit or Needed a Certain Actor? Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln Photo: Dreamworks Pictures I want to start out this article with a spoiler alert. If you want to be surprised at who wins the Best Actor Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards do not read any further.

For everyone else you can just mark down Daniel Day-Lewis on your Oscar pool ballot right now and know that you’ll get at least one category correct. Day-Lewis is not just a lock to land his third Best Actor award. He’s a promise. And deservedly so. Lincoln is the kind of tour de force that happens when the greatest actor of a generation takes on an iconic role like Abraham Lincoln and nails it. The bigger question for me is whether anyone else could have tackled the role and been as successful. It isn’t that Lincoln has never been portrayed in film before. Walter Huston played Lincoln in D.W. Griffith’s epic take on the 16th President of the United States in 1930 and playing the title role in 1939’s Young Mr. Lincoln is considered by many as Henry Fonda’s breakout role . But while Abraham Lincoln, as a character, has appeared in many productions since those early days in everything from the TV’s “The Simpsons” to this year’s disastrous feature Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, few portrayals have stood out since those early films. That all changes with Day-Lewis’ take on the great man.

I attended the press conference for the film a couple weeks back and asked director Stephen Spielberg if he could have even considered making his film without Day-Lewis, since at one point Liam Neeson was also attached to the film. Here was his response… You’re a filmmaker who’s worked on certain films for years. After watching the movie I can’t imagine someone else playing this role, no knock on Liam Neeson. I read that at one point you were talking to him. Is there sometimes, a fortuitous time to make a film even though you’ve been working on it for many, many years. SPIELBERG: Yes, and that’s not up to me. Whether it’s fortuitous is something you realize after you’re done. So, I think a lot of planets lined up in a good position, but that was out of my control, and that was not even on my mind at that the time. At that point I had just accepted the fact I would make Lincoln if Daniel decided to play him, and I would not make Lincoln had Daniel decided not to play him. It was as simple as that. It had gotten to that point with me.

My mention of Liam Neeson did get a later response from Day-Lewis, however. DAY-LEWIS: I would love to say just something I feel I have to, because Liam is a friend of mine, and Liam was committed to Lincoln for a period of time working with Steven, and it was, you know, there came a moment when for reasons that — SPIELBERG: We both decided — DAY-LEWIS: — were clear to both of them — SPIELBERG: Yeah. DAY-LEWIS: — that Liam needed to do other things. Steven was going to do other things, but Liam, you know, for that period whilst Liam was committed to that project, of course, it wouldn’t haven’t occurred to me to consider it. From the moment that Liam decided it was no longer something he would be engaged with he has been in touch with me about it since, and has given me incredible encouragement, in the most generous possible way. And [he] encouraged me when I was undecided about whether I should do it. SPIELBERG: Right. DAY-LEWIS: I should say that.

SPIELBERG: So, the timeline was simply — I approached Daniel first to play Lincoln. He turned me down. That was about eight, nine years ago. And then Liam and I had a very healthy flirt about possibly doing this together. Then we both decided to do other things. Then I came back to Daniel. So, that’s the timeline. DAY-LEWIS: And I can say unequivocally that I know for a fact that Liam’s Lincoln would’ve been something I would’ve wished to see. Um, you know, these things are haphazard. You ask about timing. It worked out this way. It could easily have worked out the other way, and I think Liam would’ve been quite wonderful. I understood why Day-Lewis felt he had to stand up for Neeson. They are friends and fellow actors. But I simply don’t believe the film would have the same buzz surrounding it had anyone else played the title role.

Daniel Day-Lewis became Lincoln in a way I don’t believe Neeson could have matched, or anyone for that matter, which brings me to my question to you… Can you think of any films in recent memory so tied to the lead actor that it would be almost inconceivable to see another actor in the role? by Joseph Harder on 22 April 2000 52 out of 56 people found the following review useful: In his otherwise excellent book, Lincoln in American Memory, the historian Merrill Peterson calls Young Mr.Lincoln a "boring, dreadful, film". This amazingly wrongheaded analysis simply proves that great historians are rarely fine film critics. I am working on a doctoral dissertation on Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. As part of my preparation for writing the dissertation, I made a careful analysis of this film, and of Tag Gallaghers brilliant interpretation of it in his seminal book on Ford. Young Mr. Lincoln comes out that culminating year of the first phase of Ford's cinematic authorship, 1939.In that greatest of Hollywood years, Ford directed three superb, still not fully appreciated films: Drums Along the Mohawk, Stagecoach,and Young Mr.Lincoln.

It might seem odd to say that Stagecoach is not fully appreciated, all but the most purblind of critics must perceive that it is one of of the greatest Westerns, and perhaps even one of the hundred greatest films of all time. However, what is NOT fully appreciated is that these three films work together as a kind of trilogy-a triptych, in fact. Ford is creating a sort of mythic history of America on screen. Drums Along the Mohawk is the Revolutionary War. Young Mr.Lincoln is pre-Civil War America.Finally, Stagecoach is Post Civil War America. What the three films have in common is that they are an extended meditation on the American Adam and his "errand into the Wilderness". What are the Psychic and social costs of American manifest destiny, as America strives to build a new human city in the wilderness?Lincoln symbolizes Americas journey, as he seeks to reconcile the civilizational inmpulse (law), with the freedom of the wilderness.Young Mr.Lincoln is not history, ( It is full of historical "howlers'-as both Ford and Trotti were well aware), but myth.

This is Lincoln, the symbol of justice and mercy, Lincoln, the man of the wilderness, striving to found a civilization within himself, and to become the "remarkable lawgiver' of young America. Young Mr. Lincoln is not history-like James Agee's long forgotten teleplay about Lincoln, and like Sandburgs biography, it is an epic poem...a very beautiful epic poem. Young Lincoln Gets the 'Ford' Treatment! by Ben Burgraff (cariart) on 2 July 2006 32 out of 35 people found the following review useful: 1939 is universally accepted as the greatest year in Hollywood history, with more classic films released than in any other, and John Ford directed three of the best, "Stagecoach", "Drums Along the Mohawk", and this beautiful homage to frontier days and a young backwoods lawyer destined to eventually save the Union, "Young Mr. Lincoln". With the world plunging into a war that America dreaded, but knew it would be drawn into, Abraham Lincoln was much on people's minds, in 1939, as someone who had faced the same dilemma in his own life, and had triumphed.

On Broadway, Robert E. Sherwood's award-winning "Abe Lincoln in Illinois", with Raymond Massey's physically dead-on portrayal, was playing to packed houses (it would be filmed in 1940). Carl Sandburg's continuation of his epic biography, "Abraham Lincoln: The War Years", was published, and quickly became a best seller. President Roosevelt frequently referred to Lincoln in speeches, and the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, D.C., became the most popular landmark in town (a fact that Frank Capra made good use of, in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"). All this was not lost on Darryl F. Zanuck, at 20th Century Fox; as soon as he read Lamar Trotti's screenplay of Lincoln's early days as a lawyer, he designated it a 'prestige' production, and assigned John Ford to direct, and Henry Fonda, to star. Fonda did NOT want to play Lincoln; he felt he couldn't do justice to the 'Great Emancipator', and feared a bad performance would damage his career. Even a filmed make-up test, in which he was stunned by how much he would resemble Lincoln, wouldn't change his mind.

According to Fonda, John Ford, whom he'd never worked with, cussed him out royally, at their first meeting, and explained he wasn't portraying the Lincoln of Legend, but a young "jackanape" country lawyer facing his first murder trial. Humbled, Fonda took the role. (John Ford offered a different scenario of the events, but the outcome was the same!) Obviously, they found a chemistry together that worked, as nearly all of their pairings would produce 'classics'. Unlike the introverted, melancholia-racked Lincoln of "Abe Lincoln in Illinois", Ford's vision was that of a shy but likable young attorney, who made friends easily, and misses the mother he lost, too young (resulting in a bond with a pioneer mother that becomes a vital part of the story). Injustice riles him, and he speaks 'common sense' to quell violence, interlaced with doses of humor. Both productions play on Lincoln's (undocumented) relationship with Ann Rutledge; in Ford's version, the pair are truly in love, and committed to each other.

After her death, Lincoln would frequently visit her grave, to share his life with her 'spirit' (a theme Ford would continue in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"). A murder trial is the centerpiece of the film, and shows the prodigious talents of the star and director. Fonda deftly portrays Lincoln's inexperience, yet earnest belief in justice tempered with mercy, and Ford emphasizes the gulf between the big-city 'intellectuals' (represented by pompous D.A. Donald Meek, and his slick 'advisor', Stephen Douglas, played by a young Milburn Stone), and the informal, rule-bending country sense of Lincoln. With Ford 'regular' Ward Bond as a key witness, the trial is both unconventional, and riveting. With the film closing as Lincoln strides away into the stormy distance, and his destiny (dissolving into a view of the statue at the Lincoln Memorial), audiences could take comfort in the film's message that if a cause is just, good would ultimately triumph. "Young Mr. Lincoln" is a truly remarkable film, from an amazing year!

A Jackleg Prarie Lawyer by bkoganbing on 9 September 2005 26 out of 30 people found the following review useful: Young Mr. Lincoln marks the first film of the director/star collaboration of John Ford and Henry Fonda. I recall years ago Fonda telling that as a young actor he was understandably nervous about playing Abraham Lincoln and scared he wouldn't live up to the challenge. John Ford before the shooting starts put him at ease by saying he wasn't going to be playing the Great Emancipator, but just a jack-leg prairie lawyer. That being settled Fonda headed a cast that John Ford directed into a classic film. This is not a biographical film of Lincoln. That had come before in the sound era with Walter Huston and a year after Young Mr. Lincoln, Raymond Massey did the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Robert Sherwood Abe Lincoln in Illinois. Massey still remains the definitive Lincoln. But as Ford said, Fonda wasn't playing the Great Emancipator just a small town lawyer in Illinois. The film encompasses about 10 years of Lincoln's early life.

We see him clerking in a general store, getting some law books from an immigrant pioneer family whose path he would cross again later in the story. And his romance with Ann Rutledge with her early death leaving Lincoln a most melancholy being. Fast forward about 10 years and Lincoln is now a practicing attorney beginning to get some notice. He's served a couple of terms in the legislature, but he's back in private practice not really sure if politics is for him. This is where the bulk of the action takes place. The two sons of that family he'd gotten the law books from way back when are accused of murder. He offers to defend them. And not an ordinary murder but one of a deputy sheriff. The trial itself is fiction, but the gambit used in the defense of Richard Cromwell and Eddie Quillan who played the two sons is based on a real case Lincoln defended. I'll say no more. Other than the performances, the great strength of Young Mr. Lincoln is the way John Ford captures the mood and atmosphere and setting of a small Illinois prairie town in a Fourth of July celebration. It's almost like you're watching a newsreel.

And it was the mood of the country itself, young, vibrant and growing. Fans of John Ford films will recognize two musical themes here that were repeated in later films. During the romantic interlude at the beginning with Fonda and Pauline Moore who played Ann Rutledge the music in the background is the same theme used in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance for Vera Miles. And at a dance, the tune Lovely Susan Brown that Fonda and Marjorie Weaver who plays Mary Todd is the same one Fonda danced with Cathy Downs to, in My Darling Clementine at the dance for the raising of a church in Tombstone. Lincoln will forever be a favorite subject of biographers and dramatists because of two reasons, I believe. The first is he's the living embodiment of our own American mythology about people rising from the very bottom to the pinnacle of power through their own efforts. In fact Young Mr. Lincoln very graphically shows the background Lincoln came from. And secondly the fact that he was our president during the greatest crisis in American history and that he made a singularly good and moral decision to free slaves during the Civil War, albeit for some necessary political reasons. His assassination assured his place in history.

Besides Fonda and others I've mentioned special praise should also go to Fred Kohler, Jr. and Ward Bond, the two town louts, Kohler being the murder victim and Bond the chief accuser. Also Donald Meek as the prosecuting attorney and Alice Brady in what turned out to be her last film as the pioneer mother of Cromwell and Quillan. And a very nice performance by Spencer Charters who specialized in rustic characters as the judge. For a film that captures the drama and romance of the time it's set in, you can't do better than Young Mr. Lincoln. Great Ford, and Great Americana by roy-4 (roy@edroso.com) on 12 June 2001 23 out of 29 people found the following review useful: Why does this movie get so little attention? Maybe because it came out in that overstuffed great-movie year, 1939 (Wizard of Oz, Dark Victory, Grand Illusion, GWTW [which I can't stand]).

But I really think it's because YML is a transitional film for Ford -- it's stuck between his early expressionistic period ("The Informer") and his classic Western period, with one stylistic foot in each. And it's unabashedly patriotic, only hinting at the dark reimagining of the American experience that the Master would come to in "The Searchers" and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" -- but still hinting at it enough to turn off the McVeighs among us. Maybe that's why I love it. You can see Ford coming to terms with the grand, Griffithesque vision of America through its most complicated avatar, Lincoln. Ford's love for his country was more like Lincoln's than Griffith's, anyway: like Lincoln, he acknowledged the genius of the democratic experiment, but he was also aware of its dangers: mob rule and self-satisfaction. YML's greatest scenes are all about this. First, there's the local parade Abe attends, surrounded by yahoos whom he loves but also sees for what they are.

(We see him in another scene accepting a legal case from one of these -- and warily biting the coin offered him for a retainer.) Veterans of the recent War of 1812 and Indian Wars march through; the crowd is wild for them, Abe merely respectful.Then a agon of old men in tricorners is pulled through the parade route. No one seems to know who they are. Lincoln quietly informs his friends that they are veterans of the War for Independence -- and gravely doffs his stovepipe hat. His friends, mildly ashamed (it appears) of their prevous jingoistic glee, follow suit, and stand silent and hatless as the old men pass. Then the mildly ludicrous plot -- about two brothers accused of another man's murder -- kicks in, and Abe goes to work. The scene where he confronts a lynch mob, putting his foot up against the log they're using for a battering-ram against the jailhouse door, is a classic by any standard. But note how Abe talks to the mob on its own level while remaining, in spirit, resolutely on his own higher plane.

After appealing to their macho impulses by offering to "lick any man here," he delivers a house-divided speech that soothes their savagery and leaves them confused and irresolute. "Dontcha wanna put that log down now, boys?" he asks when they have been flummoxed by his eloquence. "Ain't it gettin' a mite heavy?" Throughout Ford indulges in shameless historical foreshadowings that would have made Stephen Vincent Benet blush. Abe meets Mary Todd and Stephen Douglas; he rides down a dirt road with a bumpkin who's playing a new tune called "Dixie" on a jaw-harp. "Kinda makes you feel like marchin'!" says the bumpkin, as he and Abe ride through a muddy patch in the road. The ending is impossible to describe without inviting derision, but I swear to you, it works. Having won his case, Lincoln allows as how he might take a walk -- "maybe to the top of that hill." As he trudges on, the skies send down rain and lightning -- and Abe seems to know what this is a prelude to.

I acknowledge the superiority of the great Ford films that came after, but I will always have a special place in my heart for "Young Mr. Lincoln." Independence Day (the federal day of observance, not the movie) is coming; you could do far worse than to watch this great film before the barbecue. Delicious with a grain of salt by Dustin Luke Nelson on 2 August 2007 11 out of 11 people found the following review useful: According to John Ford's lyrically shot, fictional biopic of Abraham Lincoln's life his greatest faults may have been an obtuseness with woman and an ability to dance in "the worst way." Ford's camera has only praising views to reveal of Mr. Lincoln's early life. But for what the film lacks in character complexities it makes up for in beauty and depth of vision. Uncharacteristically beautiful compositions of early film, what could have been a series of gorgeous still frames, Ford has a unique eye for telling a story. The film sings of the life of a hopeful young man. Henry Fonda plays the contemplative and spontaneously clever Lincoln to a tee, one of his best roles.

The film concerns two young men, brothers, on trial for a murder that both claim to have committed. In classic angry mob style, the town decides to take justice into their own hands and lynch the pair of them, until honest Abe steps into the fray. He charms them with his humor, telling them not to rob him of his first big case, and that they are as good as lynched with him as the boys lawyer. What follows seems to become the outline for all courtroom- murder-dramas thereafter, as Abe cunningly interrogates witnesses to the delight and humor of the judge, jury and town before he stumbles upon the missing links. The film plays out like many John Ford movies do: a tablespoon of Americana, a dash of moderate predictability, a hint of sarcasm that you aren't sure if you put in the recipe or if Ford did it himself. Despite the overtly 'Hollywood' feel of the film, and overly patriotic banter alluding to Lincoln's future presidency, the film is entirely enjoyable and enjoyably well constructed, if you can take your drama with a grain of salt. YOUNG MR.

LINCOLN (John Ford, 1939) ***1/2 by MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) on 6 May 2006 13 out of 15 people found the following review useful: This film was not only one of John Ford's own personal favorites but also numbered directors Sergei M. Eisenstein and Bertrand Tavernier among its high-profile admirers. Ironically, I've just caught up with it myself via Criterion's recent 2-Disc Set after missing out on a couple of original language screenings of it on Italian TV many years ago and again a few times on TV while in Hollywood! The film marked Ford's first of nine collaborations with Henry Fonda and is also a quintessential example of Ford's folksy Americana vein. A beautifully made and pictorially quite poetic piece of work, the courtroom sequences (and eventual revelation) in its second half still pack quite a wallop, apart from giving stalwart character actor Donald Meek a memorably meaty role as the prosecuting attorney.

Fonda is, of course, perfectly cast as a bashful, inexperienced but rigorous and humanistic lawyer who was destined to become President; Fonda would go on to portray other fictitious politicians on film - most notably in Franklin J. Schaffner's THE BEST MAN (1964) and Sidney Lumet's FAIL-SAFE (1964) - and it's surprising now to learn that he was reluctant at the time about accepting the role of Lincoln since, in his view, that was "like playing God"! It is interesting to note here that Ford had previously tackled Abraham Lincoln (tangentially) in THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND (1936), a superb but perhaps little-known gem which has, luckily, just been released as a Special Edition DVD by the UK's veritable Criterion stand-in, Eureka's "Masters Of Cinema" label. Besides, I also have two more Abraham Lincoln films in my DVD collection which I've yet to watch and, incidentally, both were directed by D. W.

Griffith - THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915) and ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1930) - and, had I not just received a bunch of films I've never watched before just now, I would have gladly given them a spin based on my highly-satisfying viewing experience with YOUNG MR. LINCOLN. Henry Fonda is Terrific Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940): Biopic Starring Oscar-Nominated Raymond Massey | Emanuel Levy Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940): Biopic Starring Oscar-Nominated Raymond Massey January 27, 2006 by EmanuelLevy Leave a Comment Nominated for two Academy Awards, for Actor Raymond Massey in the title role and for James Wong Howe’s b/w cinematography, Abe Linclon in Lincoln was the second film within one year (the first was John Ford’s Young Mr. Lincoln in 1939) to deal with that president. Canadian-born, British-trained Raymond Massey plays Young Abe who comes out of the backwoods and falls in love with Ann Rutledge (Mary Howard).

The ambitious Mary Todd (played by the young Ruth Gordon in one of her first screen roles) is determined to get Abe for herself. Massey’s performance conveys the wit and charisma of Lincoln, but the film suffers from gross historical inaccuracies and the melodramatic approach of director John Cromwell. In the supporting role, Gene Lockhart gives a broad interpretation as Stephen A. Douglas, and critics at the time also faulted Ruth Gordon for her aggressive interpretation of the doom-haunted Mrs. Lincoln. Grover Jones’s screenplay is based on Robert E. Sherwood’s 1939 Pulitzer Prize-wining play, in which Raymond Massey originated the role. Lincoln became a signature role for Massey, who played Lincoln again in the anthology Western, How the West Was Won.

Endowed with an impressive voice and strong presence, Massey played effectively other historical roles, such as abolitionist John Brown in the 1940 Errol Flynn’s vehicle, “Santa Fe Trail,” and “Seven Angry Men.” Massey brought his historical role full circle, when he was cast as the father of Lincoln’s assassin, Junius Brutus Booth, in “Prince of Players.” As far as movies about Lincoln go, John Ford’s “Young Mr. Lincoln,” with a terrific Henry Fonda in the lead, is a better picture than “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” though the Academy neglected to nominate Fonda, instead giving a nod to Lamar Trotti for Original Story. Raymond Massey gave his last appearance as Abraham Lincoln in 1963 in How the West Was Won, playing a role that he had previously played on all three mediums: stage (Abe Lincoln in Illinois), screen (Abe Lincoln in Illinois) and TV (The Day Lincoln Was Shot). Oscar Nominations: 2 Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Young Mr. Lincoln [Region 2] Young Mr.

Lincoln [Region 2] 4.4 out of 5 stars 80 See all 69 positive reviews › One person found this helpful 5.0 out of 5 starsI had seen this movie on TV and loved it so much I wanted to have my own ... ByDawnon July 9, 2015 I had seen this movie on TV and loved it so much I wanted to have my own copy. Henry Fonda's portrayal of the young Abraham Lincoln as an untested lawyer was outstanding. Lincoln's defense of two young country boys who are falsely accused of murder touches your heart. His sensitivity and kindness to their family will bring tears to your eyes. Henry Fonda's portrayal of Lincoln, visually and in character, makes our great emancipator touchable. He certainly was one of our greatest Presidents and statesman, deserving of being highly revered. But because of that sometimes you feel like he doesn't seem real or human. But in this great movie, directed by John Ford, he is real and human. You get a feeling of the great character that he possessed that made him such a great man.

In fact, you can relate to him so well in the movie that you wish you could have known him and been his friend. I highly recommend this movie. John Ford's movie "Young Mr. Lincoln" - Cliomuse.com Cliomuse.com Rogue One & World War 2 Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) Dir: John Ford The poster provides an insight into the perspective that Ford's movie adopts towards Lincoln in his younger, pre-presidential days. Not only is he a muscular pioneer. He's also a thoughtful, contemplative man. This Lincoln also has an eye for the ladies. He's adaptable - a farmer in one frame, a courtroom lawyer in another, then a politician. The genius of Henry Fonda's portrayal of the young Lincoln is that it reveals the different facets of Lincoln's personality, including his sense of humor, while also conveying a sense that the man is steadily growing in wisdom and integrity despite the domestic and personal difficulties with which he has to contend. A modern advertisement for Young Mr. Lincoln, like the sepia-toned DVD cover above left, gives heavy prominence to its director, John Ford.

But when the movie was released in 1939, posters emphasized its producer, Darryl F. Zanuck, and its cast. The posters also made much of the family and romantic aspect of this stage of Lincoln's life. The poster on the right shows a young Lincoln in workingman's garb, a man of the people. His determination is indication by his clenched fist. The central poster shows a Lincoln in more formal clothes, appropriate for a lawyer. In both posters he appears to be confronting a crowd. Why is Young Mr. Lincoln so important? "Towards His Destiny" Ford's 1939 movie is one of the essential works of art that mythologizes a vital part of American history. It's patriotic without being ponderous or too sentimental. It admires Lincoln and foreshadows his emerging greatness, yet it avoids the trap of placing him on a pedestal and making him remote and unreachable. Above all,Young Mr Lincoln presents the man as a fallible embodiment of the potentialities of American society.

"Everyone knows that Lincoln is a great man," Ford said "but I wanted to show ...that even when young there was something great in him." Although Ford is myth-making, he's not doing it pretentiously.He told Henry Fonda, initially reluctant to play the role, "This isn't 'The Great Emancipator,' for God's sake--it's a movie about this jackleg lawyer...." In this film we see Lincoln, once a store-keeper, then a country lawyer, unlucky in love, gradually revealing his potential to become a man of destiny. The French gave the movie a apt title - Va sa destinée (Towards His Destiny). One of the most welcome aspects of Ford's interpretation of Lincoln is that he provide him with a sense of humor, a quality almost entirely lacking in other cinematic/television portrayals of the man. Much of the credit for this must belong to Lamar Trotti's fine screenplay, which suits Ford's penchant for homespun comedy. Even in the crucial murder trial scene Lincoln's defense of his two clients is a mix of informal humor and impressive oratory. For most of the film this Lincoln is capable of self-mockery and humility.

He's socially awkward, and he's certainly not the greatest lawyer, but he readily admits his faults. At the same time Lincoln is revealed as a fine orator and a man of reflection and increasing wisdom. He's also shown at ease with broad community hijinks, such as pie eating competitions, tugs of war and town drunks. One of Ford's essential themes in his movies is the role of family and community, sustaining the individual, but imposing obligations as well. In this film, the young Lincoln is helped by kind-hearted pioneering families,(one of whom gives him his first law books) and has to rely on local communities for employment and political support. Scenes of Lincoln alone, contemplating or reading, are counterpointed by the many scenes showing him talking to voters, Yet he has to resist the community when it turns into a vengeful mob. Ford and Trotti focus on the young Lincoln's stubborn insistence that for all his faults he can recognize what the morally right course of action is and he will take it against all odds. "I may not know much about the law, but I know what's right and what's wrong." Young romance: Lincoln as a rather awkward suitor.

Whether or not Lincoln was in love with Ann Rutledge is dubious, but in the film her death is a key stage in the young Lincoln's outlook on life and loss. Laconic, lanky and contemplative. LIncoln arrives in Springfield, Illinois, riding a mule -nice religious symbolism here. Plot and mythology in Young Mr Lincoln John Ford, left, on set with Henry Fonda. The critic Richard Franklin maintains that the movies of John Ford make him "at the very least the US’s greatest historian (his films having examined virtually every era from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam)". As with most Ford films that have a basis in history, Young Mr Lincoln transforms a basis of historical fact into mythology. Ford retains the essential details of Lincoln's formative years: his experiences as a shop-keeper, his struggle to learn the law, his campaigning for office. But several crucial even ts in the movie are of dubious historical authenticity, although they make for a great story. It is uncertain whether or not Lincoln courted Ann Rutledge or that her death of typhoid fever in 1835 plunged Lincoln into depression. There is little evidence for a pioneer family giving Lincoln his first law book as a payment for provisions.

The vital court case so vividly depicted in the movie was based on an actual murder case that Lincoln defended, but in real life it did not involve the two brothers which the movie shows Lincoln saving from a lynching and then successfully defending in court. The trial - of one man, not two - occurred not in Springfield, Illinois, but in Beardstown in that state. One of many popular illustrations depicting the alleged romance between Lincoln and Ann Rutledge. Ford's mythologizing genius - at the film's close, Lincoln strides away into future greatness amid the gathering clouds. LIncoln prevents a lynching: not history, but great drama. During an amazing twelve-month period in 1939-1940 Ford made not fewer than four masterpieces: Young Mr. Lincoln, Drums Along the Mohawk, Stagecoach and The Grapes of Wrath. No other director in cinematic history has ever remotely approached this astonishing burst of creativity. Although each is separated from its companions in terms of subject matter and setting, all four share one feature. Each is an examination of the importance of community / family as a factor that supports yet challenges the individual.

The critic John Baxter believes that "a powerful sense of community" in a crucial element in Ford's movies. The two excerpts from the movie below reveal different forms of community spirit,and also provide insights into Lincoln's personality -courageous, witty, adaptable , easy-going when necessary - as interpreted by Ford. Community in the three other masterpieces made by Ford in 1939-1940 In "Drums Along the Mohawk", Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert are part of an up-NewYork state farming community in 1776. Extended family as community: the Joads in "The Graspes of Wrath". An improvided community in the form of a disparate group of stagecoach passengers. For Ford, the community is always under threat - in this case, from raiding Mohawk Indians in "Drums Along the Mohawk". Here Ford frames the Indians sao that they seem to be apocalyptic demons. The environment can also menace the community - this opening shot from "The Grapes of Wrath" conveys a mood of iloslation and bleakness.

The sense of the stagecoach 'community' in peril is strengthened by the way the coach, horses and passengers appear completely exposed against the pale flat surface.

Question: Which actor played the title role in the 1939 film "Young Mr. Lincoln"?
Answer: HENRY FONDA